Chapter Eight: The Shooting Menu

Menus

There are many menus, with many different formats. That certainly provides you with significant opportunities to customize the camera to your needs and abilities. However, it also means that the user interface—which button does what within a menu—is not consistent but is adapted to the needs of each menu and its options. In many cases, the text on the menu’s screen will lead you through the sequence, but in other instances, there is little or no on-screen help. In those situations, I try to indicate the specific buttons and sequences required to effect a change on that menu.

The camera provides six unique groups of menus, most menus contain multiple submenus, and each submenu contains as many as seven options. The presentation of menus and options has evolved over the last few years, and I believe this is the best arrangement I’ve encountered. In a row along the top of each menu screen, you’ll see icons for each of the six categories of menus. Until you become familiar with what each icon represents, you can rely on the text in the upper-right corner of the menu to determine the scope of control provided by that menu. The currently active menu will have its white icon displayed against its unique background color, while the inactive menu icons will remain gray against a black background.

With the exception of My Menu (represented by the star icon), the menus all contain a variety of submenus. The currently active submenu is indicated by the colored box in a string of white boxes under the menu’s icon. Each of these boxes represents a submenu. The colored frame for the selected option and the colored box representing the current submenu are shown in the same color as the menu background.

To scroll across the range of menu icons one submenu at a time, use the Main Dial; to scroll across the string of menus a complete menu at a time, press the Quick Control button. To scroll through the list of options on a submenu, use the Quick Control Dial or the Multi-controller joystick. To select an option, press the SET button or the Multi-controller button.

Shoot1

Image Quality

“Image quality” as used in the EOS 5D Mk III settings is a bit of a misnomer. Though the term would seem to be sufficiently comprehensive that it would include elements of resolution, color saturation, contrast, and exposure, in the world of digital cameras it relates only to recorded image resolution and compression.

In the Instruction Manual, the introduction to this topic is “Setting the Image-Recording Quality.” Though that title still seems to address more quality factors than resolution, it does correctly refer only to the recording of the image. That distinction is important, because the only resolution the camera can provide is a function of the image sensor size and the number of pixels on the sensor. In the case of the EOS 5D Mk III, there are a total of 23.4 million pixels on the 24mm x 36mm image sensor. The effective resolution is just over 22 megapixels, and anything less than 22 megapixels in a recorded image is a result of your setting the Image Quality option to a lower value.

The EOS 5D Mk III is capable of saving images to a memory card in either JPEG or RAW format. In fact, it can save images in both formats if you wish.

For RAW recording, you can choose between RAW, M-RAW (medium-size RAW), and S-RAW (small-size RAW). The terms medium and small refer only to the file size. The dimensions of the image are not changed. Obviously, though, something must change in order to achieve the smaller file size, and that is the number of pixels per unit of length. In a RAW image, the recorded file will contain an image 5760 x 3840 pixels (160 pixels per millimeter), an M-RAW image will have 3960 x 2640 pixels (110 pixels per millimeter), and an S-RAW image 2880 x 1920 pixels (80 pixels per millimeter). The number of pixels available from the sensor does not change, but the percentage of those chosen for image processing varies: for RAW, all pixels are processed; for M-RAW, 47% of the pixels are processed (roughly two out of every three, in a single line); for S-RAW, only 25% of the available pixels are selected for processing (effectively, only one out of every two, in a single line).

Nonetheless, I tend to avoid M-RAW and S-RAW, using only RAW when I shoot in the RAW format. Yes, it is a bigger file and eats up the memory card faster, but I can always reduce the file size in Photoshop for a specific application and still have my full high-resolution original image, a real advantage when someone sees one of the lower-resolution images but would like to have a large print. Besides, with the comparatively inexpensive prices of today’s memory cards and computer hard disks, space requirements are just not that much of a concern anymore.

If you choose to record your images to a memory card in JPEG format, the pros and cons of selecting an image quality other than the best still apply. However, JPEG offers even more combinations than RAW. Bear in mind that JPEG always performs some degree of “lossy” compression, which means that there will be some loss of detail in every JPEG image. However, it can be so insignificant at high quality (i.e., low compression) levels that most people will never be aware of it. When I shoot JPEG, I tend to use the very highest image quality offered, knowing that, on my computer, I can always adjust the final resolution or compression for a specific need, while retaining a copy of the original high-res image for other work.

As JPEG images benefit from in-camera processing based on all the settings that have been selected, many photographers will opt to save a captured picture as both a RAW file and a JPEG file. You’ll use the sum of their requirements for storage space if you do this, but you’ll have a JPEG image you can immediately post to a website or show on a TV or computer monitor, and also have a RAW image for post-processing in an image editor.

The following two tables present a summary of image quality values, along with the resulting image resolution (in pixels), recorded number of pixels, and file size (in megabytes).

Image Quality	Resolution	Recorded Pixels (MP)	File Size (MB)
RAW
RAW	5760 x 3840	22	27.1
M-RAW	3960 x 2640	10	19.8
S-RAW	2880 x 1920	5.5	15.1
JPEG
Large, Fine	5760 x 3840	22	7.0
Large, Standard	5760 x 3840	22	3.7
Medium, Fine	3840 x 2560	9.8	3.8
Medium, Standard	3840 x 2560	9.8	2.0
Small 1, Fine	2880 x 1920	5.5	2.5
Small 1, Standard	2880 x 1920	5.5	1.3
Small 2, Fine	1920 x 1280	2.5	1.4
Small 3, Fine	720 x 480	0.3	0.3
RAW + Large, Fine JPEG
RAW + Large, Fine	5760 x 3840 5760 x 3840	22 22	34.1
M-RAW + Large, Fine	3960 x 2640 5760 x 3840	10 22	26.8
S-RAW + Large, Fine	2880 x 1920 5760 x 3840	5.5 22	22.1
RAW + Large, Standard JPEG
RAW + Large, Standard	5760 x 3840 5760 x 3840	22 22	30.8
M-RAW + Large, Standard	3960 x 2640 5760 x 3840	10 22	23.5
S-RAW + Large, Standard	2880 x 1920 5760 x 3840	5.5 22	18.8
RAW + Medium, Fine JPEG
RAW + Medium, Fine	5760 x 3840 3840 x 2560	22 9.8	30.9
M-RAW + Medium, Fine	3960 x 2640 3840 x 2560	10 9.8	23.6
S-RAW + Medium, Fine	2880 x 1920 3840 x 2560	5.5 9.8	18.9

Table 8-1

Image Quality	Resolution	Recorded Pixels (MP)	File Size (MB)
RAW + Medium, Standard JPEG
RAW + Medium, Standard	5760 x 3840 3840 x 2560	22 9.8	29.1
M-RAW + Medium, Standard	3960 x 2640 3840 x 2560	10 9.8	21.8
S-RAW + Medium, Standard	2880 x 1920 3840 x 2560	5.5 9.8	17.1
RAW + Small 1, Fine JPEG
RAW + Small 1, Fine	5760 x 3840 2880 x 1920	22 5.5	29.6
M-RAW + Small 1, Fine	3960 x 2640 2880 x 1920	10 5.5	22.3
S-RAW + Small 1, Fine	2880 x 1920 2880 x 1920	5.5 5.5	17.6
RAW + Small 1, Standard JPEG
RAW + Small 1, Standard	5760 x 3840 2880 x 1920	22 5.5	28.4
M-RAW + Small 1, Standard	3960 x 2640 2880 x 1920	10 5.5	21.1
S-RAW + Small 1, Standard	2880 x 1920 2880 x 1920	5.5 5.5	16.4
RAW + Small 2, Fine JPEG
RAW + Small 2, Fine	5760 x 3840 1920 x 1280	22 2.5	28.5
M-RAW + Small 2, Fine	3960 x 2640 1920 x 1280	10 2.5	21.2
S-RAW + Small 2, Fine	2880 x 1920 1920 x 1280	5.5 2.5	16.5
RAW + Small 3, Fine JPEG
RAW + Small 3, Fine	5760 x 3840 720 x 480	22 0.3	27.4
M-RAW + Small 3, Fine	3960 x 2640 720 x 480	10 0.3	20.1
S-RAW + Small 3, Fine	2880 x 1920 720 x 480	5.5 0.3	15.4

Table 8-2

In the following table, the “Possible Shots” data and the “Maximum Burst” data are based on using an 8 GB CF memory card, except that the Maximum Burst data shown in parentheses are the values when a 128 GB UDMA 7 memory card is used. The Maximum Burst data applies only when High-Speed Continuous Shooting is used.

RAW + JPEG data is available only for Large Fine JPEG combined with the three different RAW options.

Image Quality	Resolution	Possible Shots	Maximum Burst
RAW
RAW	5760 x 3840	260	13 (18)
M-RAW	3960 x 2640	370	10 (11)
S-RAW	2880 x 1920	480	12 (15)
JPEG
Large, Fine	5760 x 3840	1010	65* (16270)
Large, Standard	5760 x 3840	1930	1930 (30990)
Medium, Fine	3840 x 2560	1860	1860 (29800)
Medium, Standard	3840 x 2560	3430	3430 (55000)
Small 1, Fine	2880 x 1920	2810	2810 (45140)
Small 1, Standard	2880 x 1920	5240	5240 (83980)
Small 2, Fine	1920 x 1280	5030	5030 (80520)
Small 3, Fine	720 x 480	19520	19520 (312420)
RAW + Large, Fine JPEG
RAW + Large, Fine	5760 x 3840 5760 x 3840	210	7 (7)
M-RAW + Large, Fine	3960 x 2640 5760 x 3840	270	7 (7)
S-RAW + Large, Fine	2880 x 1920 5760 x 3840	320	7 (7)

Table 8-3

In table 8.3, I would expect this value to be closer to 1010. I don’t understand this low figure, and Canon has not explained it. The intriguing part is that this same low value is what shows up in the viewfinder as the maximum burst value. Of course, if the maximum burst value is greater than 99, you’ll need to determine what the real value is by searching somewhere outside of the viewfinder or the INFO. screen. That seems a little odd, as some maximum burst values are claimed to be as high as 312,420.

As for setting the Image Quality values, you need to determine just what you will be doing with the captured images. If you’re into fine art photography, wedding photography, or anything that demands a significant amount of time at the computer to “optimize” the final images, you’ll almost certainly be shooting in RAW (and not M-RAW or S-RAW). Shooting in RAW allows the camera to be a sophisticated machine serving the single, and simple, purpose of capturing the scene you have composed. A number of photographers will shoot in JPEG, either in place of recording RAW images or in addition to recording RAW images. When you’re using a camera to record family history, JPEG is generally quite adequate. In fact, some option with quality lower than Large Fine will often satisfy the requirements of a birthday party. And only when you save your shots as JPEGs will the camera apply all the image-enhancements options you’ve selected.

In this chapter, the focus is on using various menus and submenus to configure the camera for specific tasks, but there are often alternate procedures available via the Quick Control screen.

To set the Image Quality, start by pressing the MENU button, then use the Quick Control button to scroll to the Shooting menu. Next, use the Main Dial to navigate to the SHOOT1 menu (you can confirm that you’re in the right place by ensuring the leftmost of the four squares beneath the Shooting menu icon is red). Now use the Quick Control Dial to scroll down to the Image Quality option, and press the SET button.

Figure 8-1 Menus for setting Image Quality

In the right-hand screenshot,

• In the upper-left corner is a confirmation panel, showing that we are in the Image Quality configuration panel.

• In the upper-right corner is the term that identifies which of the four Card Selection options is currently being applied.

• The top line in the blue section displays the numerical characteristics of the chosen Image Quality parameters.

• The next line identifies the section of the panel used for configuring RAW options. At the far right of this line is an icon for the Main Dial, which is to remind you which controller allows you to change the RAW parameters.

• The line under the heading “RAW” displays the four choices available for RAW, with the leftmost being a hyphen, which means that no RAW images are to be recorded. In that case, there will be no numeric data displayed on the blue line for the RAW image. Selecting any of the other three values will put its specific name (e.g., M-RAW) on that line along with the relevant numeric data

• Similarly, on the JPEG line, there is an icon representing the Quick Control Dial at the right end of the line, indicating that the Quick Control Dial is used to scroll across the nine JPEG options available. If a RAW option other than the hyphen is chosen, then the JPEG hyphen option can be selected, and no JPEG images will be recorded, nor will any JPEG-related data be displayed near the top of this panel. However, If the RAW option is set to the hyphen and the JPEG option is set to hyphen, then the camera will default to Large Fine JPEG.

The foregoing is the “standard operating procedure” and works with Card Selection set to Standard, Auto Switch Card, or Record to Multiple. However, the Card Selection option Record Separately not only allows you to record an image in more than one place, but it also allows you to use different Image Quality parameters for each of the recorded versions of that image.

Figure 8-2A

Figure 8-2B

With the Card Selection parameter set to Record Separately and the Image Quality option selected on the SHOOT1 menu, press the SET button to open the Image Type/Size panel. Use the Quick Control Dial to select either the CF memory card icon or the SD memory card icon, as shown in figure 8-2A. Now, press the SET button to display the panel shown in figure 8-2B. Use the Quick Control Dial to scroll to the desired Image Quality icon for images to be stored on the chosen memory card. Pressing the SET button returns you to the panel shown in figure 8-2A, allowing you to select the other memory card, so that you can set the Image Quality for images to be written to that memory card.

Multiple Memory Cards

Image Review

Figure 8-3

Setting the Image Review Time

Immediately after an exposure, the camera will briefly show the captured image, and based on the details selected from the INFO. button selection, exposure details for that capture. You can choose two, four, or eight seconds for that brief display. To keep the image displayed, select Hold. To not have the image displayed, select Off.

• On the SHOOTING1 submenu, select Image Review, and press SET.

• Select the desired time, and press SET.

If you have set a long time (or set Hold) for image review, but you see another photo opportunity developing, you need only press the shutter button halfway to terminate the image review and proceed with taking the new photo.

Beep

Figure 8-4. The Beep setting has only two options: Enable and Disable.

• When enabled,

The beeper will sound in Scene Intelligent Auto mode () when the autofocus system achieves focus. If the camera is focusing on a continually moving subject, the beeper will continue to beep softly.

The beeper will sound in Live View when the autofocus system achieves focus.

The beeper will not sound when the autofocus system achieves focus with AI Servo AF mode. However, with AI Focus AF mode, when functioning in Servo mode, the beeper will sound softly when the autofocus system achieves focus.

The beeper sounds while the self-timer is active, with the beep rate increasing during the last two minutes.

The beeper will sound as a warning if, during manual cleaning of the sensor, the camera detects a low battery level.

The beeper will sound to indicate a successful operation during registration of an AF point.

• When disabled, the beeper will not sound when the autofocus system achieves focus.

Release Shutter without Card

This is another setting that has only Enable and Disable options. Enabling the setting allows a user to evaluate the numerous functions of the camera, including pressing the shutter release halfway or even fully, without recording any images on a memory card. This is a common practice in stores where customers can put the camera “through its paces,” but the memory card remains safely stowed in a secure drawer.

Figure 8-5

However, the camera is now yours and if you intend to record photographic images, I strongly recommend that you set this option to Disable to make sure that you never capture once-in-a-lifetime images only to discover that there was no memory card in the camera.

Lens Aberration Correction

When there’s a comma in the price of a lens you’re buying (that is, anything over $999.99), you have good reason to expect superior quality. Nonetheless, the laws of physics, particularly those that dictate the performance of optics, limit just how far glass can be ground, and in what manner multiple lens elements can be combined to make an affordable and mobile assembly to mount on the front of a camera. Fortunately, there’s another discipline—mathematics—that can be applied to in-camera image processing to assist in compensating for some residual shortcomings. Canon, among others, creates a correction profile for several of their best lenses, and makes that data available for registering in the EOS 5D Mk III as well as several other Canon DSLRs. On the EOS 5D Mk III, Canon has preloaded the correction data for more than 25 lenses. If you’ve enabled either or both of the Lens Aberration options, the camera will automatically determine which lens is mounted, and if correction data has been registered for that lens, the correction data will be applied to the captured image before the image is recorded to the memory card. (Once the image is recorded to the memory card, you cannot apply this aberration-correction feature.) You can use the EOS Utility software to delete from the camera aberration-correction data for lenses that you do not have and will probably never have, or register aberration-correction data for one or more lenses you have acquired. The EOS 5D Mk III can register aberration-correction data for as many as 40 lenses.

Peripheral illumination is the term used to describe a common problem with many lenses, especially those with large apertures. As the name implies, this problem deals only with the periphery of the image, and particularly the corners of the image, which simply get less light, making the image a bit darker in those corners. This is similar to a vignetting problem, but it’s the result of lens design, and can be overcome by applying Peripheral Illumination correction if correction data are available for the lens you are using.

Figure 8-6

Chromatic aberration is a negative phenomenon that is exacerbated by digital image capture and becomes most evident in well-lit exposures with strong contrast. The result is something called “color fringing.” In the pair of photos below, notice the edge of the building’s roof. In the picture on the left, you will see a translucent red tinge where the roof meets the sky (ah, yes, well lit and strong contrast). The image on the right was taken with the same setup, except that Chromatic Aberration correction was enabled.

Figure 8-6A

By default, the options Peripheral Illumination and Chromatic Aberration are both enabled. If you wish to disable either or both, or re-enable after disabling:

1. Press the MENU button.

2. Press the Quick Control button to progressively navigate to the Shooting menu.

3. Use the Main Dial to select the SHOOT1 Menu.

4. Use the Quick Control Dial to scroll down to the Lens Aberration correction option.

5. Press the SET button.

6. Use the Quick Control Dial to select the option you wish to change.

7. Press the Set button.

8. Use the Quick Control Dial to select either Enable of Disable.

9. Press the MENU button.

10. If you wish to change the other option, repeat steps 6 through 9.

11. Press the MENU button to return to the SHOOT1 menu.

Figure 8-6B. The list of registered lenses for the EOS 5D Mk III

External Speedlite Control

The EOS 5D Mk III does not have a built-in (or “internal”) electronic flash, so any auxilliary lighting is going to come from one or more “external” sources. The external sources used by a majority of DSLR users are electronic flash units, of which Canon makes a handful covering a broad spectrum of power and capabilities. Canon designs, builds, sells, and supports a line of electronic flash units under the name Speedlite.

I won’t pretend to address the choice of a Speedlite, but will cover what the EOS 5D Mk III can do to communicate with and control an external flash, a flash commander, or an external flash that also serves as a flash commander mounted in the camera’s hot shoe. A flash commander is capable of managing several remote flash units, configured in numerous ways.

The camera will expect to be able to communicate directly with a Speedlite, or a flash commander, mounted in the camera’s hot shoe. Of course, that Speedlite or flash commander must also be powered on in order to have a two-way communication.

In the course of discussing this menu item, I’ll be using the new Canon 600EXRT Speedlite. As the Speedlite model numbers go down, so does the number of features available. If I cover a feature in this section that your flash unit doesn’t offer, don’t be frustrated trying to find that feature (although you may want to evaluate the feature and determine whether you really can live without it).

Canon refers to its electronic flash units as “Speedlites,” so I will be using that term as well. Many photographers use electronic flash units and flash commanders other than Canon’s, and are often subject to considerations that must be managed differently than with the Canon units. I won’t attempt to address all of those possible combinations.

Configuring an External Speedlite

With the Speedlite mounted in the camera’s hot shoe and both the camera and the Speedlite powered on, press the MENU button and use the Quick Control button to select the Shooting menu. Next, use the Main Dial to scroll to the SHOOT1 menu, then use the Quick Control Dial to select the External Speedlite Control option, and press the SET button. You now have access to seven options, all related to configuring and managing the mounted Speedlite.

Figure 8-7

The first option is the Flash Firing option, and it has only two settings: Enable and Disable. Certainly, if you want to bathe your subject in light from the Speedlite, you will want to set this option to Enable. However, there may be times that you don’t want the brief-but-blinding flash from the Speedlite, but you do want to use its AF-assist beam. That’s exactly what you’ll get when you set the option to Disable.

Figure 8-8

The E-TTL II Metering option allows you to choose either Evaluative or Average. Both metering choices function just as in the camera. Choose Evaluative for “normal” flash photography and Average when it’s important that the entire image area be metered. Even then, it may be necessary to provide some degree of flash exposure compensation.

Figure 8-9

The Flash Sync Speed in Av Mode option provides an opportunity to control what range of shutter speeds will be available when the Speedlite fires. The Auto option will enable a range of shutter speeds from 1/200 second to as long as 30 seconds. Obviously, if the exposure might require anything over a 1/30 second (and sometimes not even that long), you’ll want to use a tripod or other means to ensure that there is no camera motion. The 1/200–1/60 Second Auto option reasonably ensures that the image will not be blurred because of a long exposure, but if capturing the background is important, you may find that 1/60 second is just not long enough. Simply providing more flash power will overexpose the subject and cast stronger shadows on the background. You need to either give the background more time (a longer shutter speed) for proper exposure, or provide some auxiliary lighting for the background. The third option, 1/200 Second Fixed, is good for limiting blurring caused by motion during the time the shutter is open. However, it will make any problems with well-exposed backgrounds even more apparent.

Figure 8-10

As shown in figure 8-9, some menu panels will display the INFO. button icon next to the word Help. That serves to remind you that there is on-camera menu-specific text that may be of value to you. To access that help, press and hold the INFO. button while using the Quick Control Dial to scroll down through the remaining pages in the Help file. If you ask for a display of a Help panel, and there is no red stripe down the right side of the text, then the Help text is limited to that single page. Figure 8-10 shows the listing of the Help file for the Flash Sync Speed in Av Mode option.

Figure 8-11

The camera’s Flash Function Settings allows many of a Speedlite’s configuration parameters to be set from the camera’s Menu screen. In several instances, a given configuration parameter may be able to be set in either the camera’s menu or the Speedlite’s control panel. That usually also means it can be set in both places, possibly to different values in each place. When a parameter is set in both places, the setting in the camera is ignored. That’s not a bad thing; it allows you to set up the camera in your “default” shooting configuration, but lets you override as necessary via the Speedlite’s control panel, leaving the default setting in place on the camera.

While most users would think it rather obvious that the Speedlite must be attached to the camera’s hot shoe, and that both the camera and the Speedlite must be powered on, Canon has found it advantageous to make sure that those criteria have been met, and if not to display the message shown in the center panel of figure 8-11. Notice that the title bar for this panel reflects the highlighted name from the menu shown in the left panel of figure 8-11. There are three other options below the currently selected option in that panel, and each will display this message—but with the name of the relevant option in the title bar—if the Speedlite is not mounted or powered on.

Canon cameras and Speedlites use a proprietary language to communicate with each other; therefore, if you mount any flash other than a Canon Speedlite, the camera may either ignore the flash or be thoroughly confused by the non-Canon flash. You’ll notice that the panel in the center of figure 8-11 does mention an “incompatible flash.”

When you look at the rightmost panel in figure 8-11, notice that what you’re seeing against the black background is a series of icons, each being the means to access related Speedlite configuration data.

The icon in the upper-left corner is referred to as the “Flash Mode” icon. The red rectangle around that icon indicates that the icon is selected and awaiting further instructions. Those instructions consist entirely of pressing the SET button in order to access all the parameters from which one is to be chosen.

You can use either the Quick Control Dial or the Multi-controller joystick to navigate through the icons to select a specific icon, then press the SET button to access the parameters for that icon.

Figure 8-12

When you select the Flash Mode icon, seen as ETTL in figure 8-12, then press the SET button, the Flash Mode panel opens. In figure 8-13, the current selection (ETTL) is shown in the bright blue text, while the red rectangle has been moved to MULTI. Pressing the SET button at this moment would make MULTI the current selection. Notice that the description of the icon enclosed in the red rectangle is displayed on the blue title bar immediately above the icons.

Figure 8-13

These three modes should cover the great majority of instances that need a bit of extra illumination. Though the icon says only ETTL, in reality what you’re getting is E-TTL II, which provides essentially completely automatic operation for any of the EX-series of Speedlites. The M icon enables manual control, terminating most of the negotiation between the camera and the Speedlite, which gives you full mastery over the Speedlite. The MULTI icon gives you access to a strobe light. This strobe light will fire several times during the capture of a single image, allowing the recording of the subject in numerous positions as the subject moves across the area covered by that image.

Figure 8-14

In figure 8-14, the red rectangle has been moved to the Wireless Functions icon. As you can tell by the caption at the bottom of the panel, this icon represents optical transmission of command signals that will be used between the “master” device in the camera’s hot shoe and the remote units. That master unit can be any of the 500-series of the EX line of Speedlites, the 600EX-RT, the 90EX, or the Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2. (Note that the new Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT does not provide an optical transmission function, and so is not supported in this wireless mode. See the Wireless: Radio Transmission option instead.)

Figure 8-15

Right now, if you wish to use radio transmission for control of remote units, you will need either a 600EX-RT Speedlite or the Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT mounted in the camera’s hot shoe, and you will need Canon Speedlites that recognize radio control, which—as of August 2012—is limited to the 600EXRT Speedlites. That can get expensive in a hurry, but there is certainly a set of advantages that go along with using radio control, starting with vastly increased effective range and omnidirectional positioning of the master and remotes (you’re no longer required to use a clear line of sight for positioning the units).

If you do not have any remote flash units set up as part of a shoot, then set this option to OFF, which will take a bit of burden from both the camera and the Speedlite.

Figure 8-16

The Flash Zoom icon in the upper-right corner of the Flash Function Settings panel represents a feature that allows the camera to send information regarding the current focal length of a lens to the Speedlite, which allows the Speedlite to zoom its flash element to optimize coverage for the current lens setting. If you have only a single prime lens, and its focal length matches one of the settings available in the Flash Zoom panel, then select that number and the Speedlite will always zoom to that specific focal length. If you have a prime lens whose focal length is not on the list, then select a number that is smaller than the focal length of your lens to ensure that the flash from the Speedlite covers the area your lens is able to “see.”

Photographers using a zoom lens will probably opt to select the AUTO parameter. With AUTO, the camera instructs the Speedlite to monitor the focal length of the lens, zooming the Speedlite’s flash head as you zoom the lens. The Speedlite will not zoom on a millimeter-by-millimeter basis, but will always choose a focal length just a bit smaller than the focal length of the lens. The number of possible zoom “steps” available will vary by lens. In the case of the Canon EF 24–105mm f/4L IS USM lens (available in the EOS 5D Mk III “kit” package), the Speedlite will zoom to 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, 80mm, and 105mm.

There is a case in which you may want to set the Flash Zoom to a focal length longer than the focal length you’ve chosen for the lens. If the lens is set at a relatively small number, but you manually set the Speedlite to use a large number, the setting on the Speedlite will serve to spotlight whatever is in the center of your composition.

You may have noticed that in the Flash Zoom panel of figure 8-16, the number 200 is displayed. Don’t get too excited about being able to automatically focus the Speedlite’s illumination that far onto a subject, even if you have a lens with a focal length of 200mm or longer. Of today’s Speedlite selection, only the Speedlite 600EX-RT is capable of zooming that far and providing sufficient light for a good exposure.

Figure 8-17

Shutter Synchronization refers to the correlation of shutter movement with the timing of the flash from the Speedlite. Though only two options appear in figure 8-17, there is also a third option, known as Second-Curtain Synchronization. With First-Curtain Synchronization, the Speedlite will wait until the shutter is completely open, then fire the flash. This is the mode of operation we use most frequently. Occasionally, you may want to capture a picture showing the motion of your subject. To do so usually involves using a sufficiently long exposure to capture the subject in motion—which will generally appear just as a set of colored streaks generated by that movement. With Second-Curtain Synchronization, just before the shutter closes (that’s the second curtain that is closing), the Speedlite will fire to “freeze” the motion, clearly identifying the subject. Because this technique is intended to show motion, it requires a shutter speed of 1/25 second or slower; any speed faster than 1/25 second will cause the camera to revert to First-Curtain Synchronization. Second-Curtain Synchronization is not available when you are using any form of wireless control. In the left panel of figure 8-17, the icon for Wireless Optical Transmission is being displayed, and that’s why the icon for Second-Curtain Synchronization is not shown in the other two panels.

The third icon represents High-Speed Synchronization. Using First- or Second-Curtain Synchronization forces the shutter speed to 1/200 second or slower. But sometimes you want to be able to capture an image using a faster shutter speed, stopping as much motion as possible. The EOS 5D Mk III provides the High-Speed Synchronization for just that situation. Normally, when we trigger the Speedlite, we expect the Speedlite to fire the flash once, at maximum power, varying the duration of the flash as the means to determine just how much illumination is provided. However, when the Speedlite is set to use High-Speed Synchronization, the Speedlite will determine the shutter speed set in the camera, then calculate the number of times it can flash in that time period, and set an initial percentage of full power to use for the initial flash. As there is insufficient time to fully recharge the Speedlite between each of the closely timed subsequent firings, all are fired at some level below maximum. With this approach, regardless of the shutter speed set, the Speedlite will provide illumination—albeit a bit less than maximum brightness—for the entire period the shutter is open.

Figure 8-18

Flash Exposure Compensation gives you the ability to influence the amount of illumination the Speedlite will provide. After determining all the factors that will influence the Speedlite’s calculations, ascertain whether you want to tweak it just a bit more, one way or the other. After a test shot or two, you may determine that you need to provide just a bit more or less light. Rather than playing around with changes to ISO, shutter speed, or aperture, simply set the Flash Exposure Compensation to a value that will force the Speedlite, not the camera, to alter the amount of light released. Many Speedlites allow this to be set on the Speedlite, and several cameras allow you to set Flash Exposure Compensation on the camera itself (if set in both places, the setting on the Speedlite will override any setting on the camera). The EOS 5D Mk III will allow you to use the ISO speed setting / flash exposure compensation button to set the desired flash exposure compensation value to be applied, and it also provides that feature through the Flash Function Settings option in this menu. I’m not sure about other camera-and-Speedlite combinations, but in the case of the EOS 5D Mk III and the Speedlite 600EX-RT, when this menu is used to alter Flash Exposure Compensation, the Speedlite’s control panel is immediately updated, allowing you to readily confirm your action. However, if you use the ISO speed setting / flash exposure compensation button to modify the Flash Exposure Compensation, the Speedlite’s control panel is not updated until you press the shutter button halfway.

The range of adjustment for Flash Exposure Compensation is +/-3 stops, in either ½-stop or 1/3-stop increments, depending on what you have selected for Exposure Level Increments in the C.Fn1 menu.

Figure 8-19

Flash Exposure Bracketing allows you to “buy a bit of insurance” by capturing three images: one at the “calculated” exposure, one at the exposure amended by the minus setting, and a third image whose exposure is amended by the plus setting. This works only with the drive mode set to Single Shooting, and that requires you to trigger the shutter three times. Notice that these settings apply only to the next sequence of three exposures, unless you have set Flash Custom Function Setting 3 to Disabled. Just remember: until you reset that custom function to Enabled, the camera will take one photograph with “normal” exposure, the next underexposed by the selected amount, and the third overexposed by the selected amount. If the camera used a three-shot burst mode for this operation, you will get three pictures of the same subject. But since you must press the shutter button once for each of these exposures, if you forget, you may wind up with a good exposure of the Tower of London, an underexposed photo of a double-decker bus, and an overexposed picture of the Queen’s Guard. And then the bracketing sequence will begin again, with a new set of photos. I believe it’s better to leave this custom function set to Enabled, unless you have a long series of images to capture that does require bracketing.

Figure 8-20

The remaining functions in the Flash Function Settings menus are in support of wireless control over remote flash units. These two communication technologies offer many opportunities for fine-tuning the performance of the entire lighting system, some of which you can infer from the two panels in figure 8-20. The left panel if for fully configuring an optical transmission system, and the panel on the right is for a radio transmission system. There are similarities between the parameters for radio transmission and for optical transmission, but there are some other distinct differences. The possible combinations of supported Speedlites, distribution across controlled groups, selection of communication channels, and other factors have more to do with the commander unit, whether in a Speedlite such as the Speedlite 600EX-RT or in one of the Speedlite transmitters. Refer to the Canon manuals that accompany those Speedlite products for specific assistance.

Figure 8-21

The EOS 5D Mk III provides a very quick means of resetting all the flash settings you have changed back to their default values.

The EOS 5D Mk III provides 18 different custom functions just for an external flash. You may notice that the numbers across the bottom of the panels in figure 8-22 show numbers as high as 23, but not all numbers are used by this camera.

Figure 8-22

Navigating this particular maze is not intuitive. You will start with the panel shown in the middle of figure 8-22. This is panel 0, which represents Custom Function 0. At the bottom of this panel, you can see a short red line over the upper 0, which is simply another confirmation of just which custom function is currently selected. Just below that 0 is yet another 0, but that 0 indicates the current offset into a list of values for this custom function.

If you wish to change the distance indicator display from meters (indicated with an offset of 0) to feet (indicated with an offset of 1), press the SET button. A bright red box border will appear around the current selection, but you can use either the Quick Control Dial or the Multi-controller joystick to make a new selection. To activate that new selection, press the SET button. The selected value’s offset should now be seen on the bottom of the panel, directly under the number for the custom function. To scroll across the array of custom functions, use either the Quick Control Dial or the up and down options on the Multi-controller joystick.

In the rightmost panel of figure 8-22, you can see that the value at offset 3 (the fourth listed value) has been selected for Custom Function 2, the value at offset 1 (the second listed value) has been selected for Custom Function 10, and the value at offset 2 (the third listed value) has been selected for Custom Function 21.

Figure 8-23

The description in the label for this option is not quite correct. When you choose to use this option to reset the custom functions to their default values, all except the first are reset. To reset Custom Function 0, you must manually use the Flash C.Fn Settings option to access Custom Function 0 to make the change.

Mirror Lockup

Enabling Mirror Lockup consists of selecting the option on the SHOOT1 menu, pressing the SET button, using the Quick Control Dial to select the Enable parameter, then pressing SET again to return to the SHOOT1 menu.

Figure 8-24

The text in the Mirror Lockup panel (figure 8-25) is not quite complete; yes, camera shake can be caused by “mirror shock,” but pressing the shutter button to initiate Mirror Lockup certainly introduces mirror shock. In order for Mirror Lockup to be of any value, you need to wait at least two seconds after locking the mirror in its up position before pressing the shutter button again to capture the photograph. Notice that it took two depressions of the shutter button to capture the image.

Figure 8-25

Pressing the shutter the second time can introduce its own vibrations, which can easily exceed those of mirror shock. Therefore, I encourage you to consider using a good, sturdy tripod and either the camera’s self-timer or a remote control to trip the shutter. With the drive mode set to a self-timer option and Mirror Lockup set to Enabled, the camera lifts the mirror when you first press the shutter button, then captures the image when the self-timer goes to zero; no second press of the shutter button is required. This technique works well with remote control also, but if you do not want to use the self-timer, you can press the remote control’s shutter release to lift the mirror, wait two seconds, then press the remote control’s shutter release again.

At the bottom of the panel shown in figure 8-25 you can see a prompt to press the INFO. button to access a help screen, which warns you against pointing the camera at the sun while the mirror is up. Doing so can seriously damage the shutter. That kind of damage is very obvious to a technician...there goes the warranty.

Shoot2

Expo.Comp./AEB

This menu item gives you access to two closely related options. Exposure Compensation gives you the ability to modify an exposure, either lightening or darkening it. It will not affect the image you just captured, but the one you take next, based on your assessment of the current exposure. Trying to make such a determination based on what you can see on the LCD monitor can be difficult. It’s just too easy for the image displayed there to be affected by bright sunlight and other factors, so I strongly recommend that you press the INFO. button to bring up one of the display screens that show at least the brightness histogram. If the displayed peaks are all contained within the left and right borders, yet are close to the borders, then you have a “good” exposure, meaning good in the technical sense. Your sense of artistic expression may lead you to differ with the technical, and that’s certainly encouraged.

Figure 8-26

If the histogram gives you information that leads you to want to change the exposure, then exposure compensation provides the simplest way to do it. If you select the SHOOT2 menu, then select the Expo.Comp./AEB option and press SET, the Exposure Comp./AEB Setting panel is displayed, with a red-bordered white rectangle centered under the 0, which is at midpoint on a scale ranging from -5 EV through 0 to +5 EV. To the left of this scale is the +/- icon for Exposure Compensation, and to the right of the scale is the icon for the Quick Control Dial that is used to alter the Exposure Compensation value. I suggest that you start by changing the setting by +/- 2, then fine-tune from there. If you jump immediately to +/- 5, you will most likely see only a completely blown-out white screen or a similarly affected dark screen. Of course, you may have a condition that warrants such extreme treatment. Once you’ve identified a good starting point, you may find that there is a point between two integer values that is best. By default, this scale will allow settings of 1/3 EV, though you can use the Exposure Level Increments option in the C.Fn1 menu to set these fractional increments to either 1/2 or 1/3 EV. Be aware this change to the C.Fn1 menu will also affect the Flash Exposure Compensation increment settings.

Exposure compensation is not magic; it simply takes on the error-prone chore of determining what changes to make to shutter speed or aperture in order to adjust an exposure to the extent you believe is appropriate. If you have set ISO to Auto, then ISO will be the first option changed, within the limits of the values set for Auto ISO Range in the ISO Speed Settings option of the SHOOT2 menu. Outside of that range, shutter speed or aperture will be changed, depending on the settings of the Mode Dial.

In the left panel of figure 8-27, you can see that Exposure Compensation has been set to brighten the image by 2 2/3 EV. It may be that you would like to be able to grab a shot at that exposure, but would also like to grab the same shot at 1 1/3 EV as well as one at +1 1/3 EV. That’s the beauty of Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB); it allows bracketing by as much as 3 EV. Just as the Exposure Compensation scale shows an icon at each end of the line, the next line down also shows an icon at each end, the left icon indicating support for the Automatic Exposure Bracketing function, and the right icon indicating the dial used to make the adjustment for the bracketing. Roll the Main Dial clockwise (as viewed from the back of the camera) to add to the extent of bracketing; roll it counterclockwise to reduce the extent of bracketing. If you rotate the Main Dial counterclockwise to the point of 0, the second scale disappears; it is displayed only for non-zero values. If you have set the bracketing values you want, but now wish to change the point on the scale for Exposure Compensation, simply scroll with the Quick Control Dial. The bracketing values will follow the movement of the Exposure Compensation indicator.

Figure 8-27

Look back at figure 8-27 and notice that in the left-hand panel the scale spans from -5 through +5, and the vertical marks for Exposure Compensation cover the same extent. Then, in the right-hand panel, notice that the scale has expanded from -8 to +8, but the Exposure Compensation marks still cover only -5 through +5. That’s due to the +/- 3 EV range allowed for bracketing. The AEB scale will always be centered on the Exposure Compensation setting. In the case of the settings shown in figure 8-27, the three exposures would be shot at 1 1/3, 2 2/3, and 4 EV over the camera’s metered exposure. In the most extreme case, with the Exposure Compensation setting at +5 EX, and AEB set at 3 EV, the three exposures would be at +2, +5, and +8 EV, requiring the scale to be extended to include that whole range, as shown in figure 8-28.

Unlike with Flash Exposure Compensation, if you have one of the continuous-shooting drive modes selected, you need only press and hold the shutter button. Three images will be captured if you hold the shutter button down long enough.

ISO Speed Settings

When you select this option on the SHOOT2 menu, it will expose another four options, all related to configuring ISO for your style of shooting.

The first of those options is ISO Speed. After selecting this option, press the SET button to access the array of possible settings for the EOS 5D Mk III. By default, this array starts at ISO 100 and continues through ISO 25,600 in 1/3-stop increments. You can use the ISO Speed Setting Increments option in the C.Fn1 menu to change the increments to a full stop. No ISO values will be deleted from the display of the array, but non-full stop values will be grayed out and will not be available for selection.

Figure 8-28

Figure 8-29

To gain more control over the ISO values available for use, open the ISO Speed Range option. A display similar to the one in the middle of figure 8-29 will be presented. The red-bordered rectangle identifies the current value. To change that value, press the SET button. If the current value is not at L (50) or at H2 (102,400), then the red rectangle will have a white arrowhead above and below, as shown in the right-hand panel in figure 8-29, to indicate there are ISO values yet available. (At ISO 50, only an upward-pointing arrowhead is shown; and at ISO 102,400; only a downward-pointing arrowhead is shown.) Use the Quick Control Dial to scroll through the available ISO values. When you’ve selected the desired value, press the SET button. When you have made all the adjustments you want in this panel, scroll to the OK text and press the SET button.

Though you may like the convenience of Auto ISO, you probably don’t want it to cover the entire range of possible values. The Auto ISO Range option, shown in figure 8-30, allows you to place some constraints on the range of ISO values to be made available when ISO Speed is set to AUTO. As with setting values for ISO Speed Range, changing values is a matter is selecting the variable to be changed, pressing the SET button, then using the Quick Control Dial to scroll to the desired value and pressing the SET button. Note that the ISO increments available are full stop increments.

For shooting with Auto ISO in either the P (Program) or Av (aperture priority) mode, you may want to establish the shutter speed that is the slowest you expect to encounter. That’s precisely the purpose of this fourth ISO option. Once you select the Min. Shutter Spd. option as shown in figure 8-31, the Min. Shutter Spd. panel will open, showing the shutter speeds that you can choose from. Use the Quick Control Dial to locate the value you want and press the SET button. Note that if the camera determines it needs an ISO value greater than the value you set for Auto ISO Range, then the camera will ignore this threshold value and use whatever shutter speed is necessary to achieve a correct exposure.

Figure 8-30

Figure 8-31

Auto Lighting Optimizer

This feature has the ability to automatically enhance both brightness and contrast in an image. And it can create havoc with other settings.

Figure 8-32

The camera has some sense of what a “good” image should look like, in terms of brightness and contrast. When you select any option other than Disable, the camera will attempt to brighten the image if necessary, and to improve contrast. The other three options are Low, Standard, and High, with Standard being the default. Auto Lighting Optimizer is also disabled by default when you set the Mode Dial to M (Manual). If you wish Auto Lighting Optimizer to be operational when in Manual mode, press the INFO button while on this panel to deselect the Disable During Manual Exposure setting.

Now for the “havoc”: If you use exposure compensation or flash exposure compensation to darken a picture, that effort may fail because Auto Lighting Optimizer will attempt to brighten the picture. For such a situation, set Auto Lighting Optimizer to Disable. If you have enabled Highlight Tone Priority (on the SHOOT3 menu), the Auto Lighting Optimizer will be automatically set to Disable; you can have one or the other, but not both. The same is true when HDR Mode or multiple exposure shooting is set. (Auto Lighting Optimizer is automatically re-enabled when all three of these mutually exclusive options are disabled.) Using Auto Lighting Optimizer can push an otherwise acceptable image over the noise threshold if a significant amount of brightness must be added.

White Balance

There is always a bit of confusion about hot and cold colors, and how that relates to the Kelvin temperatures that photographers use to express color, especially color correction. For many of us, our first experience with color and temperature is the color of our skin on being exposed to temperatures well outside of our comfort level: blue for too cold and red for too hot. However, those colors are not the direct result of temperature, but simply the result of blood flow in response to temperature.

In color temperature, the colors are more like those of a piece of steel being heated: it first glows with a warm, orange color, then moves through several shades to an intense blue color at a much higher temperature. It’s pretty much the opposite of what we experience with our bodies. In 1848, Lord Kelvin conceived the idea of an “absolute zero” temperature, and built a temperature scale based on that. Its degree increments are the same as the degree increments in the Celsius temperature scale. Zero degrees Celsius (the freezing point for water, also known as 32 degrees Fahrenheit) is equivalent to 273 K. (The Kelvin scale does not use the word “degree,” nor is the degree symbol used in expressing a Kelvin temperature). The lowest Kelvin temperature the EOS 5D Mk III can emulate is 2000 K, or ((2000-273) x (9/5) = 3109 degrees Fahrenheit, which would give a very reddish cast to a photo. Kelvin temperatures up to 10000 are supported, which would introduce a blue cast.

Color film and digital cameras use a Kelvin temperature of around 5500 as the color of “daylight.” Light of any different color generally requires some modification in order to produce an image with well-balanced color. That modification can come from external lighting, colored filters placed on the lens, or—for digital cameras—internal modification based on a “white balance” setting.

Icon	Mode	Color Temp (Kelvin)
	Auto White Balance	3000–7000
	Daylight	5200
	Shade	7000
	Cloudy, twilight, sunset	6000
	Tungsten light	3200
	White fluorescent light	4000
	Electronic flash	6000
	Custom	2000–10000
	Color temperature	2500–10000
* Will be set by the Speedlite if it supports color temperature transmission

Table 8-4

Most digital cameras utilize an “automatic white balance” that does a very good job of color correction, as long as there is sufficient white or near-white in the image to allow the camera to establish a reference. However, if you are shooting under a large number of incandescent or fluorescent lights, or shooting in a room with strong colors on the walls, you’ll see that these tend to overpower the automatic white balance (AWB). For those times, the EOS 5D Mk III provides a number of predetermined white balance corrections.

A word on using the fluorescent setting: The typical household “warm white” fluorescent is about 2700 K, while “neutral white” fluorescents are 3000 K, “cool-white” fluorescents (popular in offices) are 4100 K, and “daylight” fluorescents run from 5000 K to 6500 K. If you’re shooting in a typical office setting, choosing the fluorescent setting may work very well for you. Otherwise, you may want to use the K setting, which allows you to set the color temperature you want, in 100 K increments.

Custom White Balance

There are times when the available lighting is such a mix of colors that it’s difficult to determine which predetermined white balance setting should be used. This is especially true when an area is illuminated by a mix of incandescent, fluorescent, and quartz halogen bulbs. To address that problem, the EOS 5D Mk III provides a function for creating a custom white balance setting.

The procedure is relatively straightforward, requiring a clean sheet of totally opaque white material or (preferably) an 18% gray card. Either should be large enough to fill the viewfinder. This “target” should be placed so that the ambient light you’re concerned about becomes the source of illumination for the photo. With the correct exposure set, photograph the target. Now, in the SHOOT2 menu, select the Custom White Balance option, use either the Main Dial or the Quick Control Dial to scroll to the image of the white material or 18% gray card you just captured, then press SET to have that image stored as the Custom White Balance reference. Go back to the SHOOT2 menu and select the White Balance option, then use the Quick Control Dial to scroll across to the Custom icon and press SET.

Set up for your shoot under these lighting conditions, using this custom white balance setting, and your challenging lighting problems should be diminished.

WB Shift/Bkt.

It is possible to change white balance in very small increments, either on the blue-amber axis, or on the green-magenta axis, or on both axes.

Figure 8-33

In the SHOOT2 menu, when you select the WB Shift/Bkt option and press the SET button, a panel showing a grid with a square dot at the intersection of the two axes is displayed, as shown in the left panel of figure 8-33. If you use the Multi-controller’s joystick to move that square up, you are adding green to the final white balance; down adds magenta, right adds amber, and left adds blue. However, you can select only one value for each axis, as shown in the middle panel of figure 8-33, in which white balance will be shifted 4 units of amber and 3 units of green. Any of the four colors can be shifted by as many as 9 units. Press the SET button when you’re ready to return to the SHOOT2 menu.

This SHOOT2 menu option also allows you to bracket the white balance shift you’ve just created. With the square already in its shifted position, you can rotate the Quick Control Dial in a clockwise direction to add as many as 3 units of bracketing on the blue-amber axis, or rotate the Quick Control Dial in a counterclockwise direction to add as many as 3 units of bracketing on the green-magenta axis. The right panel of figure 8-34 shows that the Shift was set at 5 units of amber and 3 units of green, with ±2 units of green added for bracketing. Press the SET button when you’re ready to return to the SHOOT2 menu. With bracketing set to a non-zero value, a single press of the shutter button will cause three images to be captured.

Color Space

Any color space encompasses a range of reproducible colors, with unique characteristics for each. The EOS 5D Mk III can record images in one of two color spaces, sRGB or Adobe RGB. The Adobe RGB option tends to produce images that appear a bit flat, color-wise, on uncorrected computer monitors and printers. Post-processing is generally required in order to achieve images of good color, and that’s really the advantage in using Adobe RGB—it provides more latitude for such corrections.

What I typically see is that for recording kids’ birthday parties, athletic competitions, and other milestones, the camera will be set for sRGB. But for “serious” photography, whether fine art, weddings, or portraits, the camera is most likely set for Adobe RGB.

Shoot3

Picture Style

This is a feature just for those who shoot JPEGs, and even then most JPEG shooters who also use their computer for post-processing will have little or no use for it.

With Picture Style, you can apply certain picture-enhancing actions. These enhancements are in the areas of sharpness, contrast, saturation, and color tone. Canon has created six predefined sets, as well as a monochrome set, as well as space to store three user-defined sets. In determining which set to use, consider these characteristics:

• Auto: Color tone will be determined by the camera, based on the scene; colors will be vivid

• Standard: Images will look vivid, sharp, and crisp

• Portrait: Produces good skin tones, and softens the picture

• Landscape: Very sharp and crisp images; produces vivid blues and greens

• Neutral: Produces minimal enhancement, yielding natural colors

• Faithful: Intended for images that will be post-processed in a computer

• Monochrome: Produces black-and-white images, and allows for applying filter effects and toning effects

Figure 8-34

On the SHOOT3 menu, select the Picture Style option and press SET. Use the Quick Control Dial to select the desired option. Note the red bar down the right side of the panel in the center of figure 8-34; this is an indication that there are more options than can be displayed on one screen. Simply continue to rotate the Quick Control Dial to access those options not currently displayed. Once you have selected the desired option, you can modify the parameters for that set by pressing the INFO. button, which will open a panel similar to the right-hand panel in figure 8-34. Use the Quick Control Dial to select the parameter you want to modify, then press SET. Again, use the Quick Control Dial to alter the parameter’s values, then press SET.

Long Exp. Noise Reduction

Digital cameras are subject to a phenomenon known as “noise.” This is a result of having some photodetectors in the image sensor always producing a low-grade pixel-image. The result is cumulative: the longer the exposure, the more likely that you will see this noise. This feature attempts to compensate for this kind of noise by creating two exposures. The first exposure is your composed photograph taken with a shutter speed of one second or longer. The second exposure is created with the shutter closed, but with the same shutter speed. Whatever image is created in this second exposure is subtracted from the image created by the first exposure, effectively erasing the noise. There can be a bit of a problem in using this feature, and that has to do with just how long will the camera be effectively unavailable to shoot. The second exposure is the same duration as the first exposure, so if your first exposure is 24 seconds, then the second exposure will also be 24 seconds and the camera will not be available for capturing another image until that second exposure is complete.

The EOS 5D Mk III offers an option on the SHOOT3 menu to help with this noise problem when exposures are one full second or longer.

Figure 8-35

In the SHOOT3 menu, select the Long Exp. Noise Reduction option, and press SET. As shown in the middle panel of figure 8-35, there are three parameters to choose from. If you never take long exposures, then leave this panel set to Disable. Conversely, if you frequently take long exposures, then the Enable parameter is probably right for you. If you occasionally take long exposures, especially with high ISO, you’ll probably want to use the Auto setting and let the camera determine whether the probability of noise justifies implementing this noise reduction feature.

High ISO Speed NR

When a high ISO speed is set, the amplifiers for the image sensor’s photodetectors are turned way up, further exacerbating the results from noise-generating photodetectors. The image-subtraction method used for long-exposure noise reduction does not work very well for high-ISO-caused noise, but this option on the SHOOT3 menu will significantly reduce such noise.

Figure 8-36

On the SHOOT3 menu, select the High ISO Speed NR option, and press SET. The right-hand panel in figure 8-36 shows three enabled parameters to choose from. This choice can be a bit subjective, so I recommend that you experiment a bit before committing yourself to using these values on a critical shoot.

Highlight Tone Priority

The purpose of this feature is to expand the dynamic range of a captured image, with particular focus on those sections of the photograph that range from 18% gray to blown-out bright. The objective is to retain detail that is often lost in overly bright areas.

Figure 8-37

In the SHOOT3menu, select the Highlight Tone Priority option, and press SET. The center panel in figure 8-37 shows the two choices available, plus access to option-specific Help by pressing the INFO. button. When you release the INFO. button, the Highlight Tone Priority panel is displayed again. After selecting your choice, press the SET button, which will register your selection and return you to the SHOOT3 menu.

Dust Delete Data

The EOS 5D Mk III’s image sensor is fitted with a self-cleaning mechanism that, by default, is run every time the power switch is used to turn the camera on or off. As long as a contaminant is perfectly dry, it will generally be shaken loose. But in areas of high humidity, some contaminants absorb moisture and will adhere to the sensor. This is usually a job you want Canon technicians to handle for you, but until then, you can use this feature to effectively remove dust spots from your images. The trick is to capture a reference photograph in which the only discernible image is created by dust on the sensor. This rather small picture file is integrated with subsequent captures, both RAW and JPEG. Canon’s DPP software (part of the software suite that accompanies the camera) can then be used to “subtract” the dust-only image from the related photograph, removing all evidence of the dust spots.

Figure 8-38

In preparing to capture the dust-delete data, set up your camera with a 50mm or longer lens, set the focus mode switch on the lens to MF, focus the lens at infinity, and place a sheet of clean, white paper 8 to 12 inches from the front of the lens.

In the SHOOT3 menu, select the Dust Delete Data option, and press SET. Use the Quick Control Dial to highlight the OK option and press SET. The camera will take two or three seconds to prepare for capturing the dust data, making a few clicks along the way. Then you’ll see a screen instructing you to press the shutter button all the way down. This is when the actual image of the dust is captured. The screen will change to inform you that the camera is busy, then will display a screen stating “Data obtained” if successful. Otherwise, the screen will state “Could not obtain the data. Try again.” In the latter case, you probably need a bit more light. The camera stops the lens down to f/22 for this activity, so it does require more light than most users would expect.

Multiple Exposure

With the DIGIC 5+ image processor, the EOS 5D Mk III is capable of shooting multiple exposures, which are then processed into a single image. The image quality can be any of the camera-supported settings, including settings in both JPEG and RAW, though M-RAW and S-RAW images will be converted to RAW in the merged image.

On the SHOOT3 menu, select the Multiple Exposure option, and press SET. By default, the Multiple Exposure option, shown in the middle panel of figure 8-41, is set to Disable. With this option selected, again press SET. Now select the On function you want to work with. On: Func/Ctrl will capture one image each time you press the shutter button, up to the number of exposures specified. That allows you the opportunity to use the image review to evaluate each image before proceeding with the next exposure. On: ConstShtng is used when you have your drive mode set to continuous shooting. With On: ConstShtng, you press the shutter button and hold it down until all the specified exposures have been captured; the camera will automatically terminate the capture when that number of exposures has been taken.

After the exposures have been captured, regardless of which option was chosen, you will notice the access lamp glowing red for a much longer time than normal. This is the time it takes the camera to merge the individual exposures into the final image and write that final image to the memory card.

The Multi-Expos Ctrl option offers a bit of assistance in creating the final merged image. The Additive parameter will make no adjustments to the exposure, assuming that you have made whatever exposure adjustments you want before you press the shutter button, typically something on the order of underexposure by a half stop for each exposure. This step simply captures a group of images together, with the addition of each image making the merged image darker and darker. The Average option employs the camera in determining what exposure compensation should be made, also based on the number of exposures to be made. This is certainly the less-error-prone manner, and requires less intervention on your part. However, it uses a simple algorithm for determining the exposure adjustment, and applies that one correction value to each exposure, unlike the Additive method that allows you to apply a different correction value to any exposure involved in the Multiple Exposure effort.

Figure 8-39

Figure 8-40

The Bright and Dark options are used to retain bright or dark objects in the final merged image.

The No. of Exposures option allows you to specify the number of exposures that are required to create the merged image. Any value from two through nine may be selected.

The Save Source Imgs option has only two parameters. The All Images parameter will record the individual images that were used to create the merged file as well as the merged file, and the Result Only parameter discards the individual files and records only the merged file.

The Continue Mult-Exp option has nothing to do with the drive mode’s continuous shooting options. This option allows you to overrule the default action, which is to reset the Multiple Exposure option to Disable, as shown in the left panel of figure 8-43. Setting this option to Continuously leaves all Multiple Exposure settings in place, which is very handy if you have a number of images to capture and merge, but can be a significant irritant if you forget you have the camera set up to capture nine images, and are using Average for the Multi-Expos Ctrl option. The fact that a merged image will also be recorded is not a problem, but a collection of probably unrelated images suffering from four-and-a-half-stop underexposure is not going to make your day. Or did you select Result Only for the Save Source Imgs option, in which case you don’t even have the original (underexposed) images to work with?

Figure 8-41

Figure 8-42

Figure 8-43

Figure 8-44

The line of text that reads “Select Image for Multi Expo” looks more like an instruction, but is really just another selectable option, as shown in the right panel of figure 8-44. If you wish, you can use this option to locate a RAW image on your memory card that is to be the first image used in creating the merged image. You would then proceed with capturing the remaining images. The selected image counts as the first image in satisfying the number of exposures specified in the No. of Exposures option.

HDR Mode

It seems that far too many photographs have either areas of shadow that are essentially black, or areas of brightness that are completely blown out, with neither revealing any detail. Even our eyes have this kind of problem. We don’t need to stop and think about what the problem is; the apertures (pupils) of our eyes simply change to let in more light so that we can distinguish objects and details in dark shadows. Or we squint to reduce the amount of light in order to see detail in the very bright areas. This all happens so quickly, we’re seldom aware of it, and gives us what is generally accepted as our “normal” visual dynamic range. HDR photography attempts to apply the same technique, but the process is a bit more obvious and demands your involvement. If you are using post-processing software for HDR, you can capture several images (typically topping out at nine) to work with, but if you are using this built-in feature, you will have input from three images, one at “normal” exposure, one underexposed, and one overexposed. In either case, the process is to find the best-exposed portions of each of the input images, and build an output image that is the aggregation of all these “best” bits.

Figure 8-45

On the SHOOT3 menu, select the HDR Mode option, at the bottom of the screen. Press the SET button. On the HDR Mode screen, shown in the middle panel in figure 8-45, select Adjust Dyn Range and press SET. The parameters displayed in the right-hand panel of figure 8-45 let you fine-tune the operation a bit. As might be expected, the Disable HDR parameter simply terminates the HDR function in the camera. The Auto parameter allows the camera to look at the input images and make a determination on its own regarding the extent of under- and overexposure appropriate for optimal dynamic range. The three EV parameters let you select the degree of under- and overexposure to be provided.

The Effect option provides a list of five effects that the camera can apply to the HDR image:

1. Natural, which simply applies the dynamic-range expansion process to the HDR image

2. Art Standard, an effort to create an HDR image that resembles a painting, with a bit lower contrast

3. Art Vivid, in which colors are more saturated and the result is more like graphic art

4. Art Bold, which makes an image look more like an oil painting, with the colors even more saturated

5. Art Embossed, which decreases the color saturation, brightness, contrast, and gradation, in an effort to have the HDR image look faded and old

The Continuous HDR option defaults to 1 Shot Only, which essentially resets the Adjust Dyn Range option to Disable HDR after each HDR exposure. If you wish, you can select the Every Shot parameter, which will invoke the HDR feature for every depression of the shutter button, until you reset the parameter to 1 Shot Only.

Figure 8-46

Figure 8-47

One of the great challenges when collecting several images and creating a single resulting image is in attempting to have all the input images perfectly registered so that there are no “ghosts” or blurred edges caused by misaligned images in the stack. The most common tools to help in this regard are a good tripod and short exposures. Even then, there can be some misalignment that creeps in. The HDR feature in this camera can attempt to manage the problem, but if the alignment is too far off, nothing is going to help. As you can see in the right panel of figure 8-47, the Auto Image Align option has only two parameters: Enable and Disable.

Figure 8-48

While you’re experimenting and getting comfortable with the abilities of HDR on the EOS 5D Mk III, you may want to choose the All Images parameter on the Save Source Imgs option. That will allow you to use the playback button to review not only the final image but the three images that went into making it. However, to save space on the memory card, you may want to select the HDR Img Only parameter after mastering the process.

Regardless of the RAW Image Quality set for recording the images, the final HDR image will always be a Large Fine JPEG file. For any of the JPEG Image Quality settings, the final HDR image will be the same Image Quality as the input images.

You cannot use flash with this feature. If you’re using automatic exposure bracketing, white balance bracketing, multiple exposures, Bulb exposure, or movie shooting, HDR cannot be used.

Shoot4: LV Functions

Live View Shoot

Live View is the name given to a camera’s ability to let you see what the lens is passing to the image sensor in real time on the large and sharp LCD monitor. Normally, that image is interrupted by the reflex mirror that redirects the image from the lens, up through the pentaprism, and to the viewfinder screen. For general photography, the conventional approach to composing a photograph and determining depth of field can be performed quite well using just the viewfinder. But when sharp focus is required, depth of field in a macro shot is critical, or you want to be able to control the camera from an attached computer, Live View is the way to go.

Figure 8-49

In Live View, the mirror is raised, and that takes an element of protection away from the shutter. Do not point the camera at the sun while in Live View, as the highly focused sunlight can easily warp the curtains in the shutter, causing it to bind, or worse.

An LCD monitor is one of the camera components that consumes the most power, and Live View makes extensive and prolonged use of the LCD monitor, so keep a close eye on the battery status indicator.

The SHOOT4 menu applies only to Live View.

On the SHOOT4 menu, select the Live View Shoot option. Press SET. This option has only two states: Enable and Disable. If you wish to work in Live View, this option must be set to Enabled.

AF Mode

With Live View enabled, selection of the autofocus mode is next. On the SHOOT4 menu, select AF Mode and press SET. Choose one of the three parameters and press SET. In Live Mode, the image sensor is used for focusing. A white-bordered rectangle will appear in the center of the screen, and it will function as the AF point. You can use the Multi-controller’s joystick to position that AF point rectangle where you want to focus (pressing the Multi-controller’s center button returns the AF point to the center of the screen). Now, when you press the shutter button halfway, the camera attempts to focus. If it’s successful, the white border on the rectangle turns green; otherwise it turns orange. With a green border on the AF point, press the shutter button completely to capture the picture.

The face detection Live Mode choice allows you to quickly focus on a person’s face. Instead of a white rectangle, the AF point becomes a segmented square, with the segments being just the four corners of the square. Now when an “eligible” face is found in the frame, the camera will automatically recognize it and position the segmented square on the face. Press the shutter button halfway. If the border of the segmented square turns green, press the shutter button completely to capture your image. If the border of that segmented square turns orange, focus could not be achieved; resolve that problem and try again. Even though there is a face in the frame, it may not be recognized as a face if it is very small or very large, if the face is too bright or too dark, if the head has been turned away from the camera, or if the head is tilted to the horizontal plane or even diagonally.

Figure 8-50

The third option for AF Mode is Quick Mode. This uses the camera’s One-Shot AF mode, operating the same way it does in standard viewfinder shooting.

You can also set the focus mode switch on your lens to MF, magnify the image in Live View, and focus manually.

Grid Display

Live View can superimpose a grid on the image displayed on the LCD monitor. This grid is for compositional purposes only, and does not appear in the image recorded on the memory card.

You can use any of three grid types. The first, the 3x3 grid, is for those who try to follow the “rule of thirds” approach to composition. With this grid, it becomes quite easy to position your subject at one of the line intersections, satisfying the rule of thirds and, quite likely, improving your composition. The 6x4 grid is good for aligning with strong lines in the picture, and the 3x3+Diag grid is very useful for improving the balance in a composition.

Figure 8-51

Aspect Ratio

Live View provides the opportunity for you to set an aspect ratio other than the standard 3:2 ratio. For an optimal fit on an “older” computer monitor or TV, try the 4:3 ratio. For newer “wide-screen” computer monitors and TVs, use the 16:9 ratio. To create a perfectly square image, use the 1:1 ratio. When you choose an aspect ratio other than 3:2, a mask or outline (depending on the setting of the C.Fn2 menu’s LV Shooting Area Display option) is superimposed on the LCD monitor’s display to identify the portion of the frame that will be recorded. When you’re recording images as JPEGs, the cropping of the image is done in the camera, and the image stored has the specified aspect ratio. With RAW images, however, the new aspect ratio data is recorded in the normal 3:2 ratio RAW file. Canon’s DPP software can be used to process the RAW files and apply the encapsulated aspect ratio data.

The standard 3:2 ratio captures the largest image; all other ratios are essentially crops of the 3:2 image. Therefore, I don’t attempt to do this “cropping” in the camera. I shoot to record as much information as possible and then do my additional processing on my computer.

Figure 8-52

Expo. Simulation

In the SHOOT4 menu, select Expo. Simulation and press SET. You will find three choices:

1. Enable, which lets the LCD monitor simulate the brightness of the image to be captured, using the exposure settings you’ve made

2. During, which allows the LCD monitor to display the image at the standard settings, regardless of your exposure settings

3. Disable, which allows the LCD monitor to display the image at the standard settings, but will display the simulated exposure when you press the depth-of-field button

Figure 8-53

Silent LV Shoot

With the Silent LV Shoot option selected in the SHOOT4 menu, Mode 1 is the default. In Mode 1, you do enjoy quieter mechanical operation of the camera, even if you have selected a continuous drive mode. In fact, you should be able to shoot roughly six frames per second in high-speed continuous mode.

In Mode 2, only a single exposure is captured, even if the drive mode has been set to one of the continuous options.

Disable is used primarily when you attach a non-Canon flash to the hot shoe. The flash will not fire if either Mode 1 or Mode 2 has been set.

If you use a Canon Speedlite, silent shooting is suspended, regardless of the settings here.

Figure 8-54

Metering Timer

Use the SHOOT4 menu’s Metering Timer option to specify the amount of time you want the exposure system’s metering to remain active after you press the shutter button halfway. The 16 Sec choice is generally adequate, but for work like studio shooting, you may find that a longer time is appropriate.

Figure 8-55